Not Dead
by hawkeyeflame1921
Summary: What if Winry's parents didn't die in Ishval? What if they are alive and well? A certain couple gives the young blonde a birthday surprise that she will never forget. Set in the Manga/Brotherhood universe. Rated M just to be safe about the language. Some Royai and a small hint of EdWin


Not Dead?

A/N: Happy FMA day! Also, I obviously don't own the amazingness that is pretty much my reason of being (maybe?), Fullmetal Alchemist(: Brotherhood). Oh, and btw, this is in the FMAB/manga world. Hope you like it. If not, I don't give a fuck, but thanks for reading anyways. ^^

It was an average day for most, or so it seemed. There were a few things that were a bit...off. Colonel Mustang, ever the laziest, was had come in to work early and was already doing paperwork when, as some would say, his _favorite_ Lieutenant, Riza Hawkeye, walked in approximately fifteen minutes before everyone was supposed to show up.

When she Saw Roy quietly working, she silently walked towards him and stood in front of his desk.

"Good morning, Lieutenant. Is there something wrong?" The colonel asked without looking up from his papers.

"Permission to speak freely, Sir?" Riza asked.

"You know you don't need to ask if it's just us, but permission granted." He said, quickly finishing the paper he was working on.

"Are you feeling well today?" She looked at him, hiding a slightly worried look.

He finally put down his pen and papers and looked up at her questioningly. "Of course I am. What makes you think I'm not?"

"Sir, your early...and working.." She said, genuinely concerned.

"Yes, Riza, I'm fine." He quickly went back to his work.

"Colonel, am I missing something?" Riza stared at him, unamused, as if he were up to no good.

"Hm?" He now wasn't paying much attention to her.

"Colonel Mustang, what do you want?" She asked rolling her eyes, and trying to stay calm, but the agitation seeped through her tone.

He looked up at her again. "I'm sorry if this is weird to you, but I want nothing. I'm just trying to do my work." He kept a straight face and a business-type tone, but she could see the hidden sadness in his eyes.

Riza looked down at his desk and saw the calendar. "Oh.." She looked back up at him. "I'm sorry to have bothered you, Sir. I won't interrupt again." she turned to walk to her desk, but Roy grabbed her arm. "Sir?" she asked in shock.

"Riza, how long do you think we can keep this a secret?" He tilted his head down a bit, almost as if hanging it in shame.

"I'm sorry Sir, but I don't know what you mean." She said, straightening up.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about. Nobody else is here, so why can't we ju-" He started to say, but was cut off by her lifting her hand in signal.

"No, we agreed never to talk about it again." She said. "I apologize again for not consulting with you before I made the decision, but"

"Consulting?" he interrupted, angrily. "You didn't even tell me about it! I almost deserted at the beginning of Ishval for-"

"Again, I apologize for all of that, but the past is the past, and there's nothing we can do about it now." She interrupted.

"Like hell there isn't!" He almost yelled, then quickly lowered his voice. "Riza, we can still make things right. Don't you at least want to try?"

"You know that I would give anything for that to happen if I could, but we can't jeopardize your goals for this. It pains me to say that, but it's true, and you know it." She went back into soldier-mode. "Now, Sir, I would advise you to let my arm go and go back to your paperwork."

"Fine." He reluctantly agreed. He let go of her arm and went back to his work.

Around lunchtime, the "pipsqueak", and his younger brother walked into the office.

"Hey Fullmetal." Roy said in a monotone voice, not looking up from his paperwork.

Edward stopped upon seeing Roy writing and smirked. "Aw what's that? Doodles? Maybe love-letter?" he teased then looked at the paper. "So, how bad did you piss the lieutenant off this time?"

Roy sighed in annoyance. "What do you want, Ed?"

Ed mumbled. Something under his breath.

"What was that?"' Roy asked.

Ed mumbled again.

Roy looked at Alphonse. "Translation, please?"

Al would've rolled his eyes if he had any. "What he's trying to say is that Winry's birthday is today, and since she doesn't know many people here, we thought we'd invite you to a small party at the Hughes's house."

"I'm not sure if I c-" Roy started to say.

"Listen Mustang, you people are the only ones she knows here, and I'm not taking a wrench to the head for your sorry ass!" Ed yelled. "Be there or I'll dump a bucket of water on your head!"

"Oh really? Fine, fine we'll all be there." Roy said, going back to his paperwork.

"Uh, Colonel, are you sick or something?" Lieutenant Havoc asked, looking at Roy as if he had grown two more heads.

"I'm perfectly fine, Havoc, so stop asking." Roy said, obviously in a bad mood.

"Whatever, Colonel Bastard. Just be there." Ed said before turning and walking out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

"Sorry about Brother, I don't know what his problem is today." Alphonse said, polite as always.

Roy had started back on his work and was too consent rated to respond.

"Well, I guess we'll just go now." Alphonse said, turning to go. "Oh, and Hawkeye, do you mind hanging out with Winry at lunchtime? It's a surprise party, so we need to get the decorations and our presents for her."

"Wouldn't it be a better idea if she hangs out with Sheska?" Riza asked, quickly trying to think of the options.

"Though they are friends, she doesn't really talk to her as much as she talks to you, but if you don't want to, it's okay. We don't want to force you to." He explained.

"I guess I could do it.." She said.

"Great! Thank you Lieutenant!" Al said. "Well, see you later." He walked out of the office, and for a few seconds they could hear "Brother, wait up!" down the hall.

Everyone left for lunch early. Everyone, that is, except a certain Colonel and his favorite Lieutenant.

"Riza, we should tell her." Roy said.

"No, I'll just have lunch with her this one time and after that.." she started to say.

"After that, what? Let her think that her parents are dead? Or let her find out from someone else that they're not?" Roy asked in a low voice, so no one outside would hear them. "She's sixteen, how long do you plan on lying to her?"

"Lying to who?" Winry asked, walking in the office.

The two officers froze and looked at her.

She panicked, thinking she was in trouble. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. The door was open, so I figured it was okay, but I guess it's not since you were talking, and I'm sorry. I'll just wait out there."

Riza gave a small laugh. "It's okay Winry, we were done talking anyways."

Winry smiled. "Uh, okay...Is the Colonel coming too?" She asked. Both her and Riza looked at Roy.

Roy shrugged. "I guess so, if you want me to."

"Great! Let's go" Winry smiled and left the room.

"What just happened?" Roy asked.

"No idea, but I think you agreed to come with us.." Riza said.

"Um, okay...I guess we better go before she drags us out." He walked to the door.

"Right, good idea." She said, following.

When they got in the hall, Winry was leaning against a wall waiting for them. She started walking as soon as she saw them.

"C'mon slowpokes. Lunch will be over by the time we get to the place." Winry teased them.

Riza smiled. "I highly doubt that. So, why the rush today anyways?"

"Oh, no reason." Winry smiled at them, but Riza could see that smile turn into a smirk as she turned her head back to face forward.

"Sure..." Riza mumbled.

At lunch, Winry, trying to be discrete about it, got the two officers to sit next to each other. She tried to hide her smirks, but Riza saw them every time, Roy only saw a few.

After eating, Riza sighed. "Alright Winry, what are you plotting?" She finally asked.

"Plotting? I don't know what you mean...but..I did want to ask both of you something..well, somethings." Winry said, seemingly innocently.

"We'll answer the best we can, but no guarantees." Roy said.

"If you two love each other so much, why do you try to hide it?" Winry asked.

Roy almost choked on his drink. "W-what?"

"Calm down, Colonel." Riza said, calm as ever. "Winry, we d-"

"Don't say that you don't, because it's obvious to anyone that's spent enough time with you two that you do." She bluntly stated. "I just want to know why you hide it when you could just be happy together."

Riza sighed. "Listen Winry, The colonel and I have known each other for a long time, and we've been friends since we were little, but that's it. Nothing more, and we'd appreciate it if you would just leave it alone."

"Fine...and I have another question..." She said, a bit uncomfortably.

"Yes?" Roy said.

"Well, it's about what you said earlier...who were you talking about?" She asked, looking at both of them.

They looked at each other.

" We might as well tell her now." Roy whispered to Riza.

Riza sighed and nodded.

Roy turned back to Winry. "Uh, well, I guess there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." He glanced at Riza again before continuing. "Winry, we were talking about you.."

"Me? I've only known you for three years! What could you possibly be hiding from me?!" She yelled, freaked out. She realized that her voice was too loud and people were looking at her. "Sorry for freaking out, but this is just too weir since I've only known you for a few ye-wait, you were in the war with my parents, right? Is this about them?"

"In a way, yes.." He said, trying to think of a way to tell her the truth.

"What is it then?" Winry asked, half worried and half curious.

"Well, there's no easy way to say this, but..." he sighed and looked at Riza.

"Winry," Riza started. "We...have some bad news for you. Well, I don't know whether it'd be bad or good for you...Anyways, I don't know any other way to say it, so I'll just say it." She took a deep breath and tried to figure out the right words to use. "Winry, your parents...they aren't exactly who you think they are.."

Winry looked at them utterly confused. "What do you mean? Did they have a second life or something?"

"Well, in a way, I guess, but that's not what I meant." She looked at Roy.

"I thought you said we'd just say it." Roy mumbled to Riza.

"I am." she mumbled back then looked back at Winry. "Winry, The Rockbell's weren't your biological parents... We are."

Winry froze in a state of shock. "Y-you two are my..parents?" she quietly asked, almost squeaking.

"Yes..We should've told you sooner, but, due to certain circumstances, we couldn't." Riza said.

"Why couldn't you? I could've kept it a secret." Winry said, almost in a whisper. "And why tell me now?"

"We didn't want to risk someone overhearing. If people certain people found out then you would be the first person they go after if they want to hurt us." Roy said. "As for why we told you now, we thought it was about time that you knew, and since Riza was going to lunch with you, it was a good time to talk to you outside of HQ."

"I know it's a lot to deal with, and if you don't want to talk to us, we understand. We'll always be here for you if you need us or want to talk." Riza said.

"So..did you know my pa-I mean the Rockbells?" Winry asked in a small, hesitant voice.

"Yes, they were good friends of ours." Riza said. "We met them when we went to Resembool when we were children."

"And you kept in contact with them?" Winry asked.

"Not nearly as much as we should have, but we did talk occasionally." Roy said.

"Then why choose them? Why not choose friends that kept in contact more often?" Winry looked down. "You could've chosen someone that lived closer to you too."

"We would have if we could have, but we thought about your safety more than our selfish want to keep you close to us." Roy said.

"We chose the Rockbells because they were a safe distance away, and they wouldn't be suspected if the military ever found out about you." Riza said. "We went to see you when you were too young to remember, and we actually went a few times when we could sneak away."

"We had to stop seeing you when you got slightly older. We didn't want to interfere with your life, and we didn't want to ruin anything by doing so." Roy added.

"But you could've told me after they died. It's just not fair that I didn't know anything about anything." Winry said, her voice almost in a normal volume.

"We know our decisions weren't exactly the best ones, but we can't change that now." Roy said.

"We still love you and want whatever's best for you, and we always have." Riza said.

Winry said nothing, and they quickly ate their lunch in silence. After lunch, they went around town for a few minutes, shopping for birthday gifts for Winry. They dropped the gifts off at Riza's apartment, and went back to the office.

"It's about damn time." Ed said as Riza, Roy, and Winry walked into the office.

"Sorry for taking so long. We decided to do a bit of shopping after we had lunch." Riza said, walking to her desk.

"Colonel Bastard went with you?" Ed asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I wasn't busy, so I figured I'd go too." Roy shrugged, went to his desk, and started working on the stack of papers that was sitting on his desk.

Ed looked at him, confused, and looked at Winry. "Ready to go?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm ready." Winry followed Ed to the door then stopped and looked at Riza and Roy. "Thank you for lunch." She smiled.

"Any time." Riza said, and went back to work.

Winry and Edward left the building and went back to the hotel.

"Winry.." Ed stopped her before she opened her room door.

"Yeah?" She looked at him.

"Is everything okay? You seem..upset." He said with genuine concern.

She gave a small chuckle. "Is that concern I hear, Edward?"

"No!" Ed huffed. "Forget I said anything." He went in his room, closing the door behind him.

Winry went in her room, a sad smile on her face, and plopped down on her bed. She sighed. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"Ed, why are you in such a rush to get to the Hughes'?" Winry asked as she and the Elric brothers walked to the Hughes's apartment.

"Uh, no reason..." Edward said, walking slightly faster.

She looked at Alphonse. "What's so important that we have to rush to the Hughes's for?" she asked.

"Um, well you see..." Alphonse started, trying to think of what to say.

"It's nothing…I'm just...really hungry, that's all." Ed interrupted. "Come on, we're gonna be late." Ed walked faster causing Winry and Al to walk faster to keep up.

Ed, of course, got to the Hughes's door a bit tired and knocked on the door.

"Hey! It's about time you got here! Come on in." Maes Hughes said in his usual excited, cheery tone.

"Sorry we're so late. It took a while to find these two in the library." Winry said, smiling. "So, what's so impo-" she stopped, seeing the party decorations and other guests around the room.

"Guys, you were supposed to yell 'surprise'." Maes sighed. "Oh well, Happy birthday Winry." He smiled at her.

"All this is for me..?" Winry asked, shocked and confused.

"The boys said you'd never had much of a birthday party, so we thought you should have one this year." Gracia said.

"Didn't you want a party?" Ed said, looking at Winry worriedly.

Though she tried not to let it happen, tears started rolling down Winry's cheeks. She wiped the tears away and hugged him. "Thank you Edward."


End file.
